The repair finished at 3 a.m. As the new section cooled, Kael ran a phased-array ultrasound over every millimeter. Zero defects.
Because NORSOK R-001 remembered. And now, so would they.
Kael squinted through his AR visor. The fissure glowed amber in his display, flagged by the platform’s embedded sensor mesh. “It’s 0.3 millimeters. Well within tolerance, right?”
The morning after, the director found Lena in the control room, coffee in hand. He stood for a long moment, then placed a battered, salt-stained copy of R-001 on the console.